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COFXRICHT DEPOSnt 






THE 




[NOV ^6 

'^^•^iN DREWS \ Co* 
.^=^i CHICAGO ..^ 



THE 

EFOLUTION 



. CHAIR 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGo/-/ 



<^'^ 




I. EGYPT 

For many of the ancient and mediaeval chairs 
of this'book we are indebted to the "Ornamentale 
Formenlehre" of Professor Meyer, of the School of 
Industrial Art, at Carlsnihe. 



,THE 

ipLunoN; 




Cop^riabt 1895 
3B^ B. lb. Hn&rcwg & Co. 



m 



t The Evolution 
iUh Chair,, 



1HERE has always existed a 
tendency to make articles of 
common use and convenience ob- 
jects of luxury as well, and the 
ingenuity and taste of some great 
artists have been lavished in giving 
beauty to them. 

This fact is nowhere more strongly 
demonstrated than in the ornamen- 
tation of household furniture; and, 
in this department, XTbC Cbatt has 
a special interest for us, since it is 
practically the one article of furni- 
ture that has existed, in some form 
or other, since civilization began. 



THE EVOLUTIOX 

The study of this, therefore, gives 
us an insight into the tastes, man- 
ners, and customs of many peoples. 

Although the forms and orna- 
ments of the chair may not always 
refer to the style of building, yet 
investigation will show that they 
have in a general way corresponded 
to the prevailing architecture of the 
period, and that in progress or 
retrogression their styles have kept 
an even pace with it. 

XlbC Cbair tells us that the 
ancient Egyptians, in their customs 
and habits, were more like Euro- 
peans than like Asiat^'cs. They did 
not sit, cross-legged, on divans or 
carpets as did the eastern races, nor 
did they recline while eating as the 
Romans. They sat in chairs so 
like our own that, if we were to 
change their style of ornamenta- 




No. loVz 

METAL. WOOD SEAT 



OF THE CHAIR 




II. EGYPT 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

tion, we should have a very mod- 
ern chair. These were often heavily 
upholstered, the arms and backs as 
well as the seats. See our Figure II. 
Sometimes the Egyptians sat on 
stools, and their choice in this matter 
seems to have been very largely reg- 
ulated by their purses. 

Owing to the perishable nature 
of the materials from which chairs 
have always been made, few very 
old ones exist. But there is in the 
British Museum an BG^PtiaU stool 
— Figure I — that is probably the old- 
est chair in existence, dating back 
at least three thousand years before 
Christ. It is made of ebony, with 
ivory trimmings, is put together 
with ivory, and has an ivory seat. 
Egyptian chairs were covered with 
sculptured decorations: scenes of 
every-day life, the wars, the soci- 
ety gossip of the times; and the 



Nos. I, 2 and 3 

METAL 



OF THE CHAIR 




III. ASSYRIA 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTIOX 

ends of the arms were frequently 
carved as tiger heads. The use of 
the turning-lathe was known, and 
its products varied from beautiful to 
fantastic. 

The extraordinary dryness of the 
climate helped to preserve to us a 
few examples of Egyptian chairs; 
but the HSSprian were not so for- 
tunate, and, for what we know of 
these curious seats, we have to de- 
pend upon the illustrations on the 
stones unearthed by Mr. Layard 
and his successors. The earliest 
represented are without backs or 
arms, but the legs are ver}^ taste- 
fully carved. 

Figure III represents a chair that 
came a little later, yet is very 
typical of the style. It is from a 
Khorsabad slab. It had the back 
and arms which had early been 
added, and a curious point is the 



No. 6. METAL 



OF THE CHAIR 




IV. ASSYRIA 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

human and animal figures support- 
ing them, in the manner of the 
Greek caryatides and atlantes of a 
later period. Sometimes the whole 
chair was supported by an animal: a 
lion, a sheep, oftener ahorse. The 
Persians adopted this mode of deco- 
rating their thrones. 

The back of our Figure III is 
incomplete. The fracture shown 
terminates the bas-relief as it now 
is, and we could complete the chair 
only by a "restoration." 

Westward through Asia Minor to 
Greece there was such constant 
intercourse that it hardly seems 
strange that many of the Assyrian 
forms should have been wrought 
into the Greek designs. In Figure 
IV we have one of the later Assyrian 
that shows a prototype of some of 
the Grecian ornament. Indeed, the 

ritish Museum has a Greek bas- 



OF THE CHAIR 




V. GREECE 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

relief from Lycia, which shows this 
same chair more fully developed in 
its ornamentation. 

The Greeks used a couch or 
lounge generally, and slept, as well 
as rested, upon it; but they also had 
chairs, some of which were very 
beautiful. Figure V was used in 
dwellings. Its seat was usually 
made from the bones of sheep. 
These were often very highly pol- 
ished and were decorated with a 
colored dye. This chair appears in 
many of the pictures of Greek 
family life. It was often draped 
with a skin, and was used especially 
as a lady's chair. Its back is the 
*' klismos," found in later styles. 

A (5teeF? chair of entirely differ- 
ent type is the massive one shown 

in Figure VI. This was used in 



lANO DUET 



OF THE CHAIR 




VI. ATHENS 



A. H. ANDRKWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTIOX 

public places. Our cut is a chair 
that stood by the door of the temple 
of Themis at Athens and bore an 
inscription below the seat. 

Love of ease must surely have 
originated such a style as is shown 
in Figure VII and was used by the 
Roman senators. In the home of 
a IROlliaU each room had a special 
style of seat. In the dining-room, 
couches were used for reclining 
while eating, and in the other 
rooms seats for two, or only one, 
as the use of the room required. 
They also had a folding chair, 
which they carried about with them 
and sometimes placed in their 
chariots. This had a curious name 
— sella curulis — from currus — a 
chariot, that has lasted for many 
styles of folding chairs through all 
the ages. 




■lANO DUET — OPEN 



OF THE CHAIR 




VII. ROME 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 



The chair of Pompeii, or Hercu- 
laneum , shown in Figure VIII , is not 
so elaborate in design as the other 
Roman chair, yet it had a footstool 
always, and the ornamentation was 
much the same. 

The "Ornamentale Formenlehre" 
shows a beautiful Roman chair, too 
elaborate for our sketches, whose 
sides are sphinxes supporting the 
seat, their lifted wings forming the 
graceful arms. 

After the fall of the IRontait Em- 
pire all Europe was so devastated 
by wars that nearly ten centuries 
rolled by during which the people 
had little time to make good fur- 
niture of any kind, and much that 
was made perished in the general 
turmoil of those centuries. 



No. ii6 
cnoc.kafhek's 



OF THE CHAIR 




VIII. POMPEII 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



We have an old chair — Figure 
IX — from Htrtca. The seat of 
this chair is of sheepskin stretched 
tight, like a drum-head, while the 
back was made of catgut like that 
used for musical instruments. It 
is of ebony inlaid with ivory and 
mother-of-pearl, and the front legs 
are evidently of solid ivory. 




No. 116 

EXTENDED 



OF THE CHAIR 




IX. ETHIOPIA 
A. H. ANDRKWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 

Figure X is a beautiful example 
of the Mohammedan art which has 
brought us so much of beauty. 
This art sprang from the Byzantine 
Christian architecture. It attained 
its highest beauty in Constantino- 
ple, India, and Spain — in mosques, 
tombs, and palaces. This chair is 
incrusted with ivory, mother-of- 
pearl, and turtle-shell, and the shell 
is of special interest, since the pro- 
cess by which the /IDOOtS worked 
this material is lost to us. They 
had a method of heating it and 
twisting it into spirals. Some of 
the chairs were made almost com- 
pletely of ivorj^ and some folded 
like the old curules of Rome, which 
they slightly resembled. 

The chair we show is very plainly 
a derivative from the ancient camp- 
stool. 

Very charming chairs of this form , 




No. (i Ot'ERA 



OF THE CHAIR 




X. ARABIA 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 

without the oriental ornamentation, 
were in use in England in the four- 
teenth century and probably earlier. 

Figure XI, an old Norwegian 
chair, is interesting as showing the 
Norseman's early adoption of the 
arabesque. This form of ornament 
is older than the Arab cult, but is 
named as it is because it came to 
us more through the. Arab influ- 
ence than by the Greek and Ro- 
man. This IRorwa^ work is of 
course very crude, and lacks en- 
tirely the delicate touch of the 
Moor. Its curious irregularities 
suggest the wandering fancy of a 
child. 

Some of these Norse chairs were 
more elaborate than our example, 
and had carv^ed animals under the 
arms, in the manner of our Assyrian 
Figure III. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XI. NORWAY— I2TH Century 



A. H, ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



During this time the chair for 
the most of Europe was often but a 
mere box, square, and with no 
back or arms, with a sort of cabi- 
net underneath where its owner 
kept his private belongings. But 
in 5talp some of the cities sustained 
a high civilization, and the Venetian 
chair — Figure .XII — is very quaint 
and rich. ' - 




AUUITOKIUM 




XII. VENICE 



THE EVOLUTION 



The illustration, Figure XIII, is 
a chair in the Louvre, known as the 
Dagobert chair, and is as early a 
mediaeval chair as exists. It is of 
bronze and is said to have been ex- 
ecuted by a monk, St. Eloi, for 
Dagobert, King of jftaUCC, early 
in the seventh century. 

It was originally a folding chair. 
The addition of its back, in the 
twelfth century, is attributed to 
Suger, the great abbot of St. Denis, 
builder and politician, regent of 
France during the absence of Louis 
VII in the second crusade. 

A reproduction of the Dagobert, 
in walnut, is now making by M. 
Ernest of Paris. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XIII. FRANCE— Dagobert 



A. H. ANDRKWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



It was during the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries that Gothic 
architecture attained such promi- 
nence throughout Europe, and the 
zeal for religious building gave us a 
great many examples of chairs. 
They were used in the vestries, and 
as stalls in the cathedrals. Figure 
XIV was of this style, a chair of 
state, and is an extraordinary speci- 
men of the (BOtbtC designer's deli- 
cate taste. 

The accompanying ottomans, or 
tabourets, are a very ancient 
thought, being a development from 
the primitive stool. 




OF THE CHAIR 




A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 

Figure XV was also a chair used 
for stalls and in dwellings. It was 
always made with a high and solid 
back, and the style was very com- 
mon during the fourteenth and into 
the fifteenth century. 

The usefulness of the high back 
was the reason for its existence, 
since it served to protect its occu- 
pant from any surprise or attack 
from the rear. Henry the Third 
of France was assassinated by a 
monk, who had adopted every pos- 
sible ruse to persuade him to move, 
finally inducing him to turn to the 
light to read a letter, and stabbing 
him while in this position. 

Chairs of this solidity of structure 

were often fitted with a canopy, or 

baldachin, of wood, a very happy 

addition when the church or palace 

roof was not tight. 



THE EVOLUTION 



The chair like Figure XVI was 
used in dwellings and was placed 
against the wall. Its wooden back 
was often covered with Spanish 
leather. To give an idea of the cost 
of ancient work: Philip the Tall, 
13 1 6, paid for a chair, or rather a 
throne, 774 ecus, or about $1,548, 
an enormous sum of money for that 
time. From a description of the 
chair it must have been a marvel. 
There were 212 miniatures painted 
upon it, each covered with a very 
thin piece of crystal — mica, prob- 
ably — each framed with cut jewels 
and carved bronze, and the spaces 
between gilded. The pictures were 
a connected story of the glories of 
the king and his religion. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XVI. FRANCE- 14TH Century 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

It was during this fourteenth cen- 
tury that fringe first began to be 
used, and leather, sometimes, to 
cover the wood. The leather was 
often decorated in designs made 
with a hot iron, a custom imported 
from Spain, and reaching the height 
of its popularity at Cordova. The 
desire to sit for some time after eat- 
ing led to a more comfortable chair 
with more room, and with a slop- 
ing back, and in the sixteenth cen- 
tury the Europeans began to uphol- 
ster their furniture. 

Figure XVII is a beautifully 
carved walnut (BCUOCSC chair, in- 
crusted with mother-of-pearl and 
ivory, and, though sometimes of 
lighter wood, always with a seat of 
Genoa velvet and splendid gold 
trimmings. 

This chair was elsewhere, also, 
for we find it in the cathedral of 



OF THE CHAIR 




XVII. GENOA— i6th Centuky 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



Sens, France; and a very similar 
one was in use in England in the 
same age. 

Figure XVIII was an Italian 
chair that was called a "parrot's 
chair," and was always found in 
the halls. It usually had a mon- 
ogram, or the coat of arms of the 
family, carved on the back. It 
belongs to the sixteenth century. 

A similar form, with less orna- 
ment, was in use in Germany then, 
and, by the seventeenth, very elab- 
orate chairs of this form were found 
there, radiant with colored stones 
and other ornaments. 




36 



OF THE CHAIR 




XVIII. ITALY 



THE EVOLUTION 



Figure XIX is pure Louis the 
Thirteenth in style, and is especially 
noted because it was at this time 
that flowers began to be wrought 
upon silks and velvets and used 
upon furniture. 

The nobles used to send their 
chairs wherever they wished to go, 
and had special carriages to carry 
them in, with special cases lined 
with padding, like a jewel box. 




38 



OF THE CHAIR 




XIX. FRANCE— Louis XIII 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO.. CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

Until 1580 nearly all the chairs in 
France had arms, but at this time 
the mode of dressing changed. The 
ladies began to wear immense hoops, 
and since they could not sit down 
with them on, the chair arms 
must go. These chairs were given 
a name from the farthingale that 
made the trouble, " Vertugadin." 
See Figure XX, a sketch only. 

The king's chair was usually con- 
sidered sacred. It was Henry the 
Third of France, whose guard had 
orders to kill any person who 
touched his throne. A law of eti- 
quette at this period gave the high- 
est-backed chair to the person of 
highest rank, and the next highest 
to the person whose rank was next 
below, and so on down in order. 

In the seventeenth century the 
big wigs came into fashion, how- 




XX. FRANCE— "Vertugadin' 



THE EVOLUTION 



ever, and a great conflict arose 
between them and the taU chair 
backs. The tall backs were con- 
quered and soon disappeared. 

The chair shown in Figure XXI 
has a curious name, ^' Caquetoire." 
It refers to rapid talking, and in 
English would be a " cackle chair." 
It was a great favorite, and got its 
name from the women's using it for 
special gossiping. Silk, velvet, 
and brocade were used to decorate 
it, and its sumptuous coverings 
were the pride of the women. 
These chairs were always light 
compared with others, and easy to 
move. 

In the seventeenth century came 
the cane chairs. The cane was 
imported from India, and some of 
the designs wrought with these 




OF THE CHAIR 




XXI. FRANCE— i6th Century 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO.. CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

strips of rattan were very intricate. 
See Fig. XXII. They came during 
the reign of Louis XIV in France. 
Louis lavished the money his great 
minister collected for him on every 
kind of art work. He imported 
artists from all countries, and the 
art of his kingdom developed at a 
wonderfully rapid rate. 

The chair shown in this figure 
is not as elaborately carved as 
many, but is typical of the period. 
Chairs of a later date showed the 
beginning of" that rococo style that 
marked the reign of Louis XV in so 
prominent a manner. The rococo 
was everywhere, in Germany, 
especially, and was the almost ex- 
clusive style of interior decoration 
toward the later years of the eight- 
eenth century. The modeler's art 
had never been allowed such scope 
and freedom, and some of the work 



OF THE CHAIR 




■_.i; 



XXII. FRANCE— Cane Chair 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO.. CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 

of this period will never be excelled 
in exuberant richness. 

Figure XXIII. This chair is up- 
holstered with the rich, brocart, a 
cloth embroidered with gold and 
silver threads, rich and sumptuous. 
To give an idea of the value of the 
cloth: In 1665 the King of France 
ordered 195 ells, nearly 195 yards, 
and paid for it about $29,000 of 
our money. It could not be made 
at that time in France; but the king's 
minister sent men to Italy to learn 
the art, and upon their return 
factories wie;re started in France. 

IRapolCOU I attempted to repro- 
duce the old Roman dignity and 
splendor, and the style known as 
''the Empire" became the only 
fashion. It was sometimes very se- 
vere and classic, yet usually with 
the richness and variety that the 




46 



OF THE CHAIR 




XXIII. FRANCE— Louis XVI 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 

Renaissance designers of the later 
Italian work had bequeathed to it. 
Figure XXIV is a good example of 
the more modest kind, but it is also 
very typical of the style, with the 
back and the classic moldings of its 
Roman prototype ^^ 

It was used as a throne chair, and 
has the initial in gold. This initial 
was always encircled by a wreath 
of laurel leaves, and was in the old 
Roman character. The arms of the 
chair were often carved into lions' 
heads, the front leg of the chair 
being the fore leg of the lion. The 
surfaces were always highly pol- 
ished, and the decorations were in 
gold. The upholstered seat was 
brocaded in a gold-embossed velvet, 
the richest to be procured. Chairs 
of a similar character are to be found 
in the throne-rooms of many of the 
palaces of Kurope. 



4S 




OF THE CHAIR 




mj=^ 



XXIV. FRANCE— Empire 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



But throne-making is not now a 
generally remunerative occupation. 
Seats for the many, rather than 
costly ones for the few, claim the 
skill of the chair-maker. 

The HnbreWB Metal Chair, for 
indoor use, is an evolution in the 
direction of real beauty and use- 
fulness. 

A very graceful form of this chair 
is shown in Figure XXV, the 
Andrews No. 6. The plating is in 
all the approved metals, and the 
upholsteries are of all desirable 
materials. 

The Andrews house is unrivaled 
in its facilities for this kind of man- 
ufacture. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XXV. METAL— 6 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



The simplest of these metal chairs 
is the HnbreWS No. I, with its 
enameled frame and veneer seat — 
plain, but airy and tasteful. 

It is shown in our Figure XXVI. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XXVI. METAL— 1, 2, 3 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



The evolution of the modern busi- 
ness chair from the hard stools and 
benches of the middle ages is worth 
considering. The business chairs 
of the HU^tCWS manufacture are 
noted for their ease, substantial- 
ness, and chaste elegance. Figure 
XXVII is their No. 6 R, a chair of 
moderate price, but seldom equaled 
in practical value. 

The varieties of arm and other 
business chairs found at this house 
are almost uncounted. 




OF THE CHAIR 




XXVII. OFFICE— 6 R 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 




THE EVOLUTION 

In the Coliseum of Rome the com- 
fort of those who witnessed the glad- 
iatorial fights and battles of trained 
animals seems to have been disre- 
garded in a marked degree, for the 
only seats were the stone terraces. 
But in our theaters the greatest 
pains is taken to provide all the 
ease and comfort that the most ex- 
acting can ask, and a comparison of 
our own with the olden day is highly 
complimentary to our age. 

®ur tbeater^lovet expects his 

chair to be the acme of ease and 
convenience. Shapely back and 
arms, a lifting seat easy in use, and 
compactness are its characteristics; 
and it must be elegant also. 

Figure XXVIII is a very popular 
chair for this purpose. It is the No. 
77of A.H. Andrews & Co., Chicago. 

This chair is in many of the best 
audience rooms of the country. 



56 



OF THE CHAIR 




XXVIII. OPERA-77 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO , CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



Figure XXIX shows a less costly 
HnbreVVS chair, for theater or hall, 
numbered 62, with all the con- 
veniences of the richer ones. 




OF THE CHAIR 




3 

XXIX. OPERA— 62 



A. H. ANDRKWS & CO.. CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



Figure XXX, the "Auditori- 
um," is named from the great Chi- 
cago Auditorium, in which are 5,000 
of these chairs from the factory of 
A. H Andrews & Co. 



npR' 



60 



OF THE CHAIR 



XXX. AUDITORIUM 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



THE EVOLUTION 



Among the new luxuries is the 
easy chair in full leather. Figure 
XXXI shows one of these. It is 
in place in the inner office of the 
business and professional man, and, 
in his home, he finds it capacious 
enough for himself and his clan of 
" blue-eyed banditti." 



iLUTION: 




OF THE CHAIR 




XXXI. LEATHER— 3 



A. H. ANDREWS & CO., CHICAGO 



ThQ JlndPGws 



...are... 




Dtarable 
Beaiatiftil 



^. H. ANDREWS &- CO. 



MANUFACTURERS 



215 Wabash Aa 
CHICAGO 



>y ? 




APR :!3.-4 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




